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Visualizing the decline of public interest in the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident by analyzing letters to the editor in Japanese newspapers

Tomoo Hidaka, Shota Endo, Hideaki Kasuga, Yusuke Masuishi, Takeyasu Kakamu, Tetsuhito Fukushima

Author information

  • Tomoo Hidaka

    Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University

  • Shota Endo

    Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University

  • Hideaki Kasuga

    Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University

  • Yusuke Masuishi

    Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University

  • Takeyasu Kakamu

    Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University

  • Tetsuhito Fukushima

    Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Fukushima Medical University

Abstract

This study aimed to delineate the decline in public interest toward the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FNPP) accident in Japan over a ten-year period. In this longitudinal descriptive study, we searched for publications within a ten-year period in Letters to the Editor that mentioned the GEJE, the FNPP accident, or the January 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (GHAE) that occurred in Japan, using the official databases of the three largest Japanese newspapers. The GEJE- and GHAE-related publications (4,809 and 2,092, respectively) are depicted as scatter plots. The results show a gradual decrease in the publications mentioning GEJE or GHAE. The impact of GEJE and FNPP on Japanese society was enormous, but the public interest waned over time. Communication strategies that maintain a high public interest in previous disasters may be necessary.

The cintent of reseach paper

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